This can of fruit drops plays a central role throughout the movie, the protagonists never let go of this can which only provided them with fleeting moments of happiness. Every time Setsuko cries, Seita offers her some fruit drops which helps calm down and diverts her attention to the delights of the fruit drops. The Fruit Drop Can is the perfect example of fleeting happiness in the movie. Despite their deplorable living conditions, Seita and Setsuko experience momentary joy every now and then. Their childhood is snatched away from them and they are constantly reminded of how war affects society. Through the changing seasons, the living conditions of the siblings deteriorate as well. The anime is loud and clear on how momentary everything in life is. People become disillusioned with war and they begin to resent the various problems such as food shortages, inflation, and loss of lives and property that the war brings. But towards the end of the anime, a change occurs. In the first half of the anime, one can actually notice Japanese people beaming with pride at Japan’s role in the World War. The whole movie revolves around the idea of how utterly devastating war really is, for a country’s prestige- yes, but even more so for ordinary citizens. It is marked by constant scenes of air raids and the protagonists also lose their house and mother to a napalm air raid. Grave of the Fireflies carefully depicts the tragedies of the war and how the siblings become a victim to it. War-torn Japan after the US have joined the Allied force. While Studio Ghibli has established its name for the breathtaking magical world that it creates, the world of Seita and Setsuko are far from perfect and magical. However, there is not just one monolithic idea in the film but rather it explores a variety of ideas, each one of them significant in its own right. Themes of the animeĭue to the setting of the movie, war plays a central role and it may seem to overshadow the other themes of the movie. In the next one and a half hours I discovered and learned so much about the unravelling chaos of life that in the following days, I could not get the imagery of the anime out of my head – a mixture of gore and melancholy, of happiness and despair, and of hope and death. Without much thought, I clicked on it, unaware of the emotional roller coster it was going to be. And then, one fine day, the entire movie showed up in my YouTube recommendation. This was an anime that my Otaku friends had recommended to me time and again, but I had never watched it. In retrospect, it was not that I was completely unaware of the movie. I had my encounter with Grave of the Fireflies when the world was under lockdown. Whatever it may be, watching Studio Ghibli movies is always delightful and provides a fresh perspective in a world that has the tendency to be very eurocentric. Perhaps the magic of Studio Ghibli lies in its apt visual imagery, or maybe it lies in its ability to capture human emotions in the rawest of forms via its visual imagery. Studio Ghibli has earned many accolades, including an oscar award. Well renowned for classic anime like Spirited Away, My Neighbour Totoro, and Howl’s Moving Castle, Studio Ghibli’s detailed and beautiful animation style has always been astounding. Studio Ghibli is a Japanese film studio that is known for an extra bit of magic in its movies and shows. Only much later do they find that their father’s fleet had been destroyed in the war. As a result of constant verbal abuse and discrimination that they face in that house, one day after a quarrel, they leave and make an abandoned shelter their home. With no words from their father even after several months, the siblings are seen as nothing but extra mouths to feed by their aunt. Setsuko and Seita lose their mother to an American air raid and go on to live with their distant aunt, hoping that their father who is in the navy will soon return from the war victoriously. The story is set against the background of World War II and depicts how war affects the common citizens. The anime follows the story of two siblings, Seita (14) and Setsuko (4) who try their best to survive but are unable to do so. It was initially released on 16th April 1988, in Japan and since then, it has become a widely watched critically acclaimed animated movie. It was directed by Isao Takahata and is based on the semi-autobiographical story by Akiyuki Nosaka. Grave of the fireflies is a poignant war tragedy from Studio Ghibli, renowned for their animated films.
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